12 August 2013

Though there is a movement
afoot to close the central city coal burning plants it hasn't happened yet to our
neighborhood smoke-stack seen here from my rented bedroom window. We've
been asking random locals and it seems that this little plant is indeed burning
coal to run the air conditioners we all use in this
crazy hot and humid weather. It's been in the high 30s (or 90s F) and
about that in humidity as well. Walking outside feels a bit like walking
into the steam room at the gym.

There were many reports about the bad air setting records earlier
this year. I was trying to find stats on how many days were hazardous but
I am not sure who is compiling that data or how to get my hands on it. In
any event, the air is bad and people are leaving BJ because of it. Us,
too.

Though LiLi got into an excellent and close-by private
international school, though we found a rockin' light-filled apartment in a
complex we've coveted, though we're in a 'hood where we already know people
including LiLi’s BJ bestie, I feel we simply cannot stay.

Last week, while LiLi was in camp and I scouted
apartments with friends, we had some blue-sky days. My friends said if
the sky stayed blue that week they figured I'd sign on to BJ for another year
or two. But the sky didn't stay blue and yesterday we had thick and gritty
air that left us all feeling sick by the end of the day.We hunkered down indoors with the air filter
running at its highest setting. It seems insane to sign on to living here
when our other option has AQIs of around 35.

I love BJ and the excitement of a city this
large.I love the center of the universe
feeling.That things change on a
dime.That we have a global community
(our friends are from:BJ; other parts
of China; Ghana; Iran; England; France; America; Australia).That traveling to other Asian countries is easy and inexpensive from here.I love
my plan to host regular foodie pot-lucks.When we lived here in 2012 the food I missed most was Mexican so I
envision hosting dinners where someone would bring salsa, someone else guac,
someone else quesadillas, etc, and another time doing Malaysian, or Indian or other foods.

But I can do that in San Francisco and I’m not sure
why I don’t think of it there.Maybe
because life there already has so many layers to it.So many obligations and so much
pressure.Even though daily life is hard
in China, there’s a way in which it is not so complicated. It feels cleaner. It feels clearer, even through the smog.